ANTI-SLAVERY  TRACTS.  No.  10.  New  Series. 


“INFIDELITY 


99 


ABOLITIONISM. 

» 


WILLIAM  LLOYD  GARRISON. 


NEW  YORK: 


PUBLISHED  BY  1'IIE  AMERICAN  ANTI-SLAVERY  SOCIETY. 

1860. 


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THE  “ INFIDELITY”  OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

\ 


Every  great  reformatory  movement,  in  every  age,  has 
been  subjected  alike  to  popular  violence  and  to  religious  op¬ 
probrium.  The  history  of  one  is  essentially  that  of  every 
other.  Its  origin  is  ever  in  obscurity ;  its  earliest  supporters 
are  destitute  of  resources,  uninfluential  in  position,  without 
reputation;  it  is  denounced  as  fanatical,  insane,  destructive, 
treasonable,  infidel.  The  tactics  resorted  to  for  its  suppres¬ 
sion  are  ever  the  same,  whether  it  be  inaugurated  by  the 
prophets,  by  Jesus  and  his  apostles,  by  WicklifFe,  Luther, 
Calvin,  Fox,  or  any  of  their  successors.  Its  opponents  have 
scornfully  asked,  as  touching  its  pedigree,  “Is  not  this  the 
carpenter’s  son  ?  ”  They  have  patriotically  pronounced  it  a 
seditious  attempt  to  play  into  the  hands  of  the  Romans,  to 
the  subversion  of  the  state  and  nation.  They  have  piously 
exclaimed  against  it  as  open  blasphemy.  They  have  branded 
it  as  incomparably  more  to  be  feared  and  abhorred  than  rob¬ 
bery  and  murder. 

No  other  result  has  been  possible,  under  the  circum¬ 
stances.  The  wrong  assailed  has  grown  to  a  colossal  size : 
its  existence  not  only  implies,  but  demonstrates,  universal 
corruption.  It  has  become  organic — a  part  of  the  habits 
and  customs  of  the  times.  It  is  incorporated  into  the  State ; 
it  is  nourished  by  the  Church.  Its  support  is  the  test  of 
loyalty,  patriotism,  piety.  It  holds  the  reins  of  government 
with  absolute  mastery  —  rewarding  the  venal,  stimulating 
the  ambitious,  terrifying  the  weak,  inflaming  the  brutal,  sat¬ 
isfying  the  pharisaical,  ostracizing  the  incorruptible.  It  has 
its  temple,  its  ritual,  its  priesthood,  its  divine  paternity,  in  the 
prevailing  religion,  no  matter  what  may  be  the  title  or  pre¬ 
tension  thereof. 


4 


THE  “INFIDELITY”  OF  ABOLITIONISM. 


Now,  to  attack  such  a  wrong,  without  fear  or  compromise, —  . 
to  strip  off  the  mask,  and  exhibit  it  in  all  its  naked  deformi¬ 
ty, —  to  demand  its  immediate  suppression,  at  whatever  cost 
to  reputation  or  worldly  interest, — must,  of  necessity,  put 
the  reformer  seemingly  in  antagonism  to  public  quietude  and 
good  order,  and  make  the  whole  social,  political  and  religious 
structure  tremble  to  its  foundations.  He  cannot  be  a  good 
citizen ;  for  he  refuses  to  be  law-abiding,  and  treads  public 
opinion,  legislative  enactment,  and  governmental  edict,  alike 
under  his  feet.  He  cannot  be  sane ;  for  he  arraigns,  tries 
and  condemns,  as  the  greatest  sinners  and  the  worst  crimi¬ 
nals,  the  most  reputable,  elevated,  revered,  and  powerful 
members  of  the  body  politic.  He  cannot  love  his  country; 
for  he  declares  it  to  be  “laden  with  iniquity,”  and  liable  to 
the  retributive  judgments  of  Heaven.  He  cannot  possess 
humility ;  for  he  pays  no  regard  to  usage,  precedent,  author¬ 
ity,  or  public  sentiment,  but  defies  them  all.  He  cannot  be 
disinterested;  for  it  is  not  supposable  that  he  is  actuated  by 
any  higher  motive  than  the  love  of  notoriety,  a  disposition  to 
be  factious,  or  the  consummation  of  some  ulterior  design. 
He  cannot  be  virtuous;  for  he  is  seen  in  the  company  of 
publicans  and  sinners,  and  is  shunned  by  the  chief  priests, 
scribes  and  pharisees.  He  cannot  be  righteously  sound  in  the 
faith ;  for  he  impeaches  whatever  is  popularly  accounted 
piety  as  but  an  empty  observance,  a  lifeless  tradition,  a  sanc¬ 
tified  villany,  or  a  miserable  delusion.  He  ought  not  to  live ; 
for  “it  is  better  that  one  man  should  die,  than  that  a  whole 
nation  should  perish.” 

Every  nation  has  it$,  “peculiar  institution,”  its  vested  in¬ 
terest,  its  organized  despotism,  its  overmastering  sin,  distinct 
from  every  other  nation.  The  conflict  of  reform  is  ever  ge¬ 
ographical  as  an  issue,  because  the  evil  assailed  is  never 
world-wide ;  it  may  be  universal  in  its  tendencies,  but  it  is 
local  in  its  immediate  results.  It  is  easy  to  denounce  Mon¬ 
archy  in  America,  Slavery  in  Europe,  Protestantism  in  Italy, 
Democracy  in  Russia,  Judaism  in  Turkey;  because  it  is  to 
take  the  popular  side  in  every  such  case.  An  iniquitous  sys¬ 
tem,  which,  if  vigorously  assailed  in  one  country,  may  excite 
a  bloody  persecution,  and  cause  the  whole  land  to  tremble 
with  consternation  and  fury,  in  another  country  may  be  de¬ 
nounced  not  only  with  impunity,  but  to  general  acceptance ; 


TIIE  “  INFIDELITY  ”  OP  ABOLITIONISM. 


for  the  special  abomination  thus  opposed  not  existing  therein, 
it  is  seen  in  its  true  character.  Hence,  what  may  serve  to 
reveal  the  exact  moral  condition  of  one  people  may  not  be 
applicable  in  any  other  case.  Kossuth  found  that  pleading 
for  “material  aid”  in  America  was  quite  a  different  thing 
from  contending  with  Austrian  despotism  in  Hungary. 

The  one  great,  distinctive,  all-conquering  sin  in  America 
is  its  system  of  chattel  slavery — co-existent  with  the  settle¬ 
ment  of  the  country — for  a  considerable  time  universally 
diffused  —  at  first,  tolerated  as  a  necessary  evil — subsequent¬ 
ly,  deplored  as  a  calamity — now,  defended  in  every  slave 
State  as  a  most  beneficent  institution,  upheld  by  natural  and 
revealed  religion — in  its  feebleness,  able  to  dictate  terms  in 
the  formation  of  the  Constitution — in  its  strength,  control¬ 
ling  parties  and  sects,  courts  and  legislative  assemblies,  the 
army  and  navy,  Congress,  the  National  Executive,  the  Su¬ 
preme  Court — and  having  at  its  disposal  all  the  offices, 
honors  and  revenues  of  the  government,  wherewith  to  defy  all 
opposition,  and  to  extend  its  dominion  indefinitely.  Gradu¬ 
ally  abolished  in  six  of  the  thirteen  States  which  formed  the 
Union,  it  has  concentrated  itself  in  the  southern  and  south¬ 
western  portion  of  the  Republic,  covering  more  than  one- 
half  of  the  national  territory,  and  aiming  at  universal  empire. 

The  victims  of  this  terrible  system  being  of  African  ex¬ 
traction,  it  has  engendered  and  established  a  complexional 
caste,  unknown  to  European  civilization ;  pervading  all  parts 
of  the  United  States  like  a  malaria-tainted  atmosphere;  in 
its  development,  more  malignant  at  the  North  than  at  the 
South ;  poisoning  the  life-blood  of  the  most  refined  and  the 
most  depraved  alike;  and  making  the  remotest  connection 
with  the  colored  race  a  leprous  taint.  Its  spirit  is  as  brutal 
as  it  is  unnatural ;  as  mean  as  it  is  wicked;  as  relentless  as 
it  is  monstrous.  It  is  capable  of  committing  any  outrage 
upon  the  person,  mind  or  estate  of  the  negro,  whether  bond 
or  free.  It  carries  with  it  the  venom  of  the  rattlesnake,  the 
rapacity  of  the  wolf,  the  fury  of  the  tiger.  It  is  “  set  on  fire 
of  hell,”  and  the  flame  is  never  quenched.  No  religious 
creed,  no  form  of  worship,  no  evangelical  discipline,  no 
heretical  liberality,  either  mitigates  or  restrains  it.  Chris¬ 
tian  and  Infidel,  Calvinist  and  Universalist,  Trinitarian 
and  Unitarian,  Episcopalian  and  Methodist,  Baptist  and 
1* 


G 


THE  “INFIDELITY”  OF  ABOLITIONISM, 


SwedenborgPn,  Old  School  and  New  School  Presbyterian, 
Orthodox  and  Hicksite  Quaker,  all  are  infected  by  it,  and 
equally  ready  to  make  an  innocent  natural  distinction  the 
badge  of  eternal  infamy,  and  a  warrant  for  the  most  cruel 
proscription.  As  a  nation  sows,  so  shall  it  also  reap.  The 
retributive  justice  of  God  was  never  more  strikingly  mani¬ 
fested  than  in  this  all-pervading  negrophobia,  the  dreadful 
consequence  of  chattel  slavery. 

The  vitality,  the  strength,  the  invulnerability  of  slavery 
are  found  in  the  prevailing  religious  sentiment  and  teaching 
of  the  people.  While  it  has  been  pronounced  an  evil,  a  ca¬ 
lamity,  wrong  in  the  abstract,  as  a  system  to  be  deplored,  and 
gradually  to  be  exterminated,  —  the  act  of  individual  and 
general  slaveholding,  the  right  to  have  property  in  man,  has 
been  universally  recognized  as  compatible  with  Christian 
faith  and  fellowship,  and  sanctioned  by  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
More  than  half  a  million  of  slaves  at  the  South  are  owned  by 
ministers,  office-bearers,  and  church  members,  who  buy,  sell, 
bequeath,  inherit,  mortgage,  divide,  and  barter  slave  proper¬ 
ty,  as  they  do  any  other  portion  of  their  personal  or  real 
estate.  At  the  North,  every  sect,  desirous  of  national  exten¬ 
sion,  can  secure  it  only  by  acknowledging  slaveholders  as 
brethren  in  Christ.  All  the  great,  controlling  ecclesiastical 
bodies  and  religious  denominations  in  the  land,  —  constituting 
the  American  Church,  comprehensively  speaking,  —  are  one 
in  sentiment  on  the  subject.  All  the  leading  Bishops,  Doc¬ 
tors  of  Divinity,  Theological  Professors,  ministers,  and  reli¬ 
gious  journalists,  find  ample  justification  for  slaveholding  at 
the  South.  Professor  Stuart,  of  Andover,  found  it  in  the 
Decalogue — Bishop  Hedding,  in  the  Golden  Buie!  Bev. 
Dr.  Lord,  President  of  Dartmouth  College,  finds  it  in  natu¬ 
ral  and  revealed  religion  —  Bev.  Dr.  Nehemiah  Adams,  in 
the  beneficent  workings  of  slavery,  suppressing  pauperism, 
preventing  mobocratic  violence,  upholding  law  and  order, 
nourishing  affection,  cultivating  the  religious  sentiment,  and 
extending  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth !  Bev.  Dr.  Spring 
avows  that  if,  by  offering  up  a  single  prayer,  he  could  eman¬ 
cipate  every  slave  in  America,  he  would  deem  it  a  rash  and 
censurable  act ! 

Such,  then,  was  the  system, — so  buttressed  and  defended, — 
to  be  assailed  and  conquered  by  the  Abolitionists.  And  who 


THE  “ INFIDELITY  ”  OF  ABOLITIONISM. 


were  they?  In  point  of  numbers,  as  drops  to  the  ocean 
without  station  or  influence ;  equally  obscure  and  destitute  of 
resources.  Originally,  they  were  generally  members  of  the 
various  religious  bodies,  tenacious  of  their  theological  views, 
full  of  veneration  for  the  organized  church  and  ministry,  but 
ignorant  of  the  position  in  which  these  stood  to  “the  sum  of 
all  villanies.”  AYrhat  would  ultimately  be  required  of  them, 
by  a  faithful  adherence  to  the  cause  of  the  slave,  in  their 
church  relations,  their  political  connections,  their  social  ties, 
their  worldly  interest  and  reputation,  they  knew  not.  In¬ 
stead  of  seeking  a  controversy  with  the  pulpit  and  the  church, 
they  confidently  looked  to  both  for  efficient  aid  to  their  cause. 
Instead  of  suddenly  withdrawing  from  the  pro-slavery  reli¬ 
gious  and  political  organizations  with  which  they  were  con¬ 
nected,  they  lingered  long  and  labored  hard  to  bring  them  to 
repentance.  They  were  earnest,  but  well-balanced ;  intrepid, 
but  circumspect ;  importunate,  but  long-suffering.  Their  con¬ 
troversy  was  neither  personal  nor  sectional ;  their  object, 
neither  to  arraign  any  sect  nor  to  assail  any  party,  primarily. 
They  sought  to  liberate  the  slave,  by  every  righteous  instru¬ 
mentality — and  nothing  more.  But  to  their  grief  and 
amazement,  they  were  gradually  led  to  perceive,  by  the  terri¬ 
ble  revelations  of  the  hour,  that  the  religious  forces  on  which 
they  had  relied  were  all  arrayed  on  the  side  of  the  oppressor  ; 
that  the  North  was  as  hostile  to  emancipation  as  the  South ; 
that  the  spirit  of  slavery  was  omnipresent,  invading  every 
sanctuary,  infecting  every  pulpit,  controlling  every  press,  cor¬ 
rupting  every  household,  and  blinding  every  vision ;  that  no 
other  alternative  was  presented  to  them,  except  to  wage  war 
with  “principalities,  and  powers,  and  spiritual  wickedness  in 
high  places,”  and  to  separate  themselves  from  every  slave¬ 
holding  alliance,  or  else  to  daub  with  untempered  mortar, 
substitute  compromise  for  principle,  and  thus  betray  the 
rights  and  liberties  of  the  millions  in  thraldom,  at  a  fearful 
cost  to  their  own  souls.  If  some  of  them  faltered,  and  per¬ 
ished  by  the  way ;  if  others  deserted  the  cause,  and  became 
its  bitterest  enemies;  if  others  still  withdrew  from  the  ranks, 
their  sectarian  attachment  overmastering  their  love  of  hu¬ 
manity,  and  leading  them  basely  to  misrepresent  and  revile 
their  old  associates ;  the  main  body  proved  fearless  and  in¬ 
corruptible,  and,  through  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society 


8 


THE  “INFIDELITY”  OF  ABOLITIONISM. 


and  its  auxiliaries,  have  remained  steadfast  to  the  present 
hour.  Either  by  way  of  distinction  or  of  opprobrium,  they 
are  technically  styled  “  Garrisonian  Abolitionists.”  The 
Southern  flesh-mongers  brand  them  as  an  “infidel”  party; 
the  Northern  pulpits  and  religious  bodies  join  in  the  same 
outcry.  Those  who  have  treacherously  seceded,  but  yet  wear 
an  anti-slavery  mask,  sedulously  propagate  the  calumny ;  and 
they  have  resorted  to  every  device  that  malice  could  suggest, 
or  bigotry  execute,  at  home  and  abroad,  to  cripple  their  re¬ 
sources,  and  destroy  their  influence.  In  England  and  Scot¬ 
land,  especially,  extraordinary  pains  have  been  taken,  in 
public  and  in  private,  by  an  artful  appeal  to  sectarian  nar¬ 
rowness,  to  hold  up  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society  as 
unworthy  of  aid  or  countenance  in  any  degree,  on  account  of 
its  “infidel  ”  character.  Contributions  designed  for  its  treas¬ 
ury  have  been  withheld,  or  directed  into  hostile  channels ; 
and  the  most  devoted  advocates  of  the  slave  treated  with 
coldness,  suspicion,  or  contempt. 

In  all  this,  no  strange  thing  has  happened.  It  is  an  old 
device  to  divert  attention  from  the  true  issue.  It  is  a  mali¬ 
cious  fabrication  —  a  “mad-dog”  outcry  to  effect  the  death  of 
the  hated  object. 

Religion  is,  in  every  land,  precisely  and  only  what  is  pop¬ 
ularly  recognized  as  such.  To  pronounce  it  corrupt,  spurious, 
oppressive,  and  especially  to  demonstrate  it  to  be  so,  is  ever 
a  proof  of  “infidelity” — whether  among  Pagans  or  Ma- 
hommedans,  Jews  or  Christians,  Catholics  or  Protestants. 
In  the  United  States,  it  is  the  bulwark  of  slavery — the  un¬ 
tiring  enemy  of  Abolitionism.  How,  then,  has  it  been  pos¬ 
sible  for  the  Abolitionists  to  establish  a  religious  character,  or 
to  avoid  the  imputation  of  infidelity,  while  in  necessary  and 
direct  conflict  with  such  a  religion  ?  To  say  that  they  ought 
not  to  assail  it,  is  to  denounce  them  for  refusing  to  go  with 
the  multitude  to  do  evil,  for  being  governed  by  the  standard 
of  eternal  justice,  for  adhering  to  the  Golden  Rule. 

To  what,  or  to  whom,  have  they  been  infidel?  If  to  the 
cause  of  the  enslaved,  let  it  be  shown.  But  this  is  not  pre¬ 
tended  ;  and  yet  this  is  the  only  test  by  which  they  are  to  be 
tried.  They  have  but  one  bond  of  agreement  —  the  inherent 
sinfulness  of  slavery,  and,  consequently,  the  duty  of  immedi¬ 
ate  emancipation.  As  individuals,  they  are  of  all  theologi- 


TIIE  “INFIDELITY”  OF  ABOLITIONISM. 


9 


cal  and  political  opinions;  having  an  undeniable  right  to  ad¬ 
vocate  those  opinions,  and  to  make  as  many  converts  to  them 
as  possible.  As  an  organization,  they  meet  for  a  common 
object  in  which  they  are  agreed,  to  endorse  nothing  but  the 
right  of  the  slave  to  himself  as  paramount  to  every  other 
claim,  and  to  apply  no  other  principle  as  a  rule  whereby  to 
measure  sects,  parties,  institutions  and  men.  No  sectarian, 
no  party  exaction  can  be  made,  without  destroying  unity  of 
spirit  and  general  cooperation.  The  Episcopalian,  the  Pres¬ 
byterian,  the  Baptist,  the  Methodist,  the  “  Infidel,”  surrender 
not  one  jot  or  tittle  of  their  right  to  be  such,  by  uniting  to¬ 
gether  for  the  abolition  of  slavery.  No  sectarian  or  party 
object  can  be  sought,  without  a  breach  of  good  faith,  and  a 
perversion  of  the  object  ostensibly  aimed  at.  No  member 
can  justly  complain  of  any  other  member,  or  seek  to  weaken 
his  testimony  against  slavery  and  its  abettors,  on  account  of 
any  opinions  held  or  promulgated  by  him  on  his  individual 
responsibility. 

Whence,  then,  this  outcry  of  “  infidelity  ”  against  the  Amer¬ 
ican  Anti-Slavery  Society?  It  has  never  proceeded  from  a 
manly  spirit;  it  has  never  been  raised  by  any  one  truly 
remembering  the  slave  as  bound  with  him ;  unless,  indeed,  it 
be  true,  that  that  Society  has  perfidiously  turned  aside  from 
its  original  object,  to  accomplish  some  ulterior  purpose,  still 
assuming  to  be  unchanged  and  undeviating.  But  it  is  not 
true:  —  though  the  charge  has  been  repeated  ten  thousand 
times,  at  home  and  abroad,  it  is  ten  thousand  times  a  calum¬ 
ny,  uttered  either  through  ignorance,  sectarian  enmity,  per¬ 
sonal  jealousy,  or  pro-slavery  malice.  The  Society  has  never 
arraigned  or  criticised  any  religious  body,  on  account  of  its 
peculiar  creed ;  it  has  never  taken  any  action  on  theological 
matters ;  it  has  never  discussed,  never  attempted  to  settle  the 
question,  whether  the  Bible  is  plenarily  inspired,  or  whether 
the  first  day  of  the  week  is  the  Sabbath,  or  any  other  ques¬ 
tion  foreign  to  its  avowed  purpose.  Of  the  Sabbath  it  has 
declared,  as  Jesus  did,  that  it  is  as  lawful  and  obligatory  to 
heal  the  sick,  release  the  bound,  and  plead  for  the  oppressed, 
on  that  day,  as  it  is  to  succor  cattle  in  distress.  Of  the 
Bible,  as  an  anti-slavery  instrumentality,  it  has  made  a  con¬ 
stant  and  most  powerful  use  against  the  pro-slavery  interpre¬ 
tations  of  a  time-serving  clergy  ;  though  not  deriving  the 


10 


TIlE  “INFIDELITY”  OF  ABOLITIONISM* 


rights  of  man  from  any  book,  but  from  his  own  nature.  Of 
the  true  Church  it  has  ever  spoken  with  veneration,  and  vin¬ 
dicated  it  as  animated  and  controlled  by  the  spirit  of  impar¬ 
tial  liberty,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  tyrants.  Of  the  Gospel 
it  has  proclaimed,  that  in  all  its  doctrines,  teachings  and  ex¬ 
amples,  it  is  utterly  at  war  with  slavery,  and  for  universal 
freedom.  Of  Jesus  it  has  affirmed,  that  he  is  ever  with  the 
down-trodden  and  oppressed,  whose  case  he  has  literally  made 
his  own,*  and  that  he  has  gloriously  vindicated  the  brother¬ 
hood  of  the  human  race,  to  the  confusion  of  all  who  desecrate 
the  image  of  God.  Its  appeals  have  been  unceasingly  to  the 
conscience  and  the  heart ;  it  has  called  to  repentance  a  guilty 
nation,  as  the  only  condition  of  salvation ;  it  has  refused  to 
compromise  with  sin. 

If,  therefore,  it  be  an  infidel  Society,  it  is  so  only  in  the 
sense  in  which  Jesus  was  a  blasphemer,  and  the  Apostles 
were  “pestilent  and  seditious  fellows,  seeking  to  turn  the 
world  upside  down.”  It  is  infidel  to  Satan,  the  enslaver ;  it 
is  loyal  to  Christ,  the  redeemer.  It  is  infidel  to  a  Gospel 
which  makes  man  the  property  of  man ;  it  is  bound  up  with 
the  Gospel  which  requires  us  to  love  our  neighbors  as  our¬ 
selves,  and  to  call  no  man  master.  It  is  infidel  to  a  Church 
which  receives  to  its  communion  the  “traffickers  in  slaves  and 
the  souls  of  men ;  ”  it  is  loyal  to  the  Church  which  is  not 
stained  with  blood,  nor  polluted  by  oppression.  It  is  infidel 
to  the  Bible  as  a  pro-slavery  interpreted  volume ;  it  is  faith¬ 
ful  to  it  as  construed  on  the  side  of  justice  and  humanity.  It 
is  infidel  to  the  Sabbath,  on  which  it  is  hypocritically  pro¬ 
nounced  unlawful  to  extricate  the  millions  who  lie  bound 
and  bleeding  in  the  pit  of  slavery ;  it  is  true  to  the  Sabbath, 
on  which  it  is  well-pleasing  to  God  to  bind  up  the  broken¬ 
hearted,  and  to  let  the  oppressed  go  free.  It  is  infidel  to  all 
blood-stained  compromises,  sinful  concessions,  unholy  com¬ 
pacts,  respecting  the  system  of  slavery;  it  is  devotedly  at¬ 
tached  to  whatever  is  honest,  straightforward,  invincible  for 
the  right.  No  Society  has  ever  erected  a  higher  moral 
standard,  or  more  disinterestedly  pursued  its  object,  or  more 
unfalteringly  walked  by  faith,  or  more  confidingly  trusted  in 
the  living  God  for  succor  in  every  extremity,  and  a  glorious 


#  See  Matthew,  ohap.  xxv. 


TIIE  “INFIDELITY”  OF  ABOLITIONISM. 


11 


victory  at  last.  At  the  jubilee,  its  vindication  shall  be  tri¬ 
umphant  and  universal. 

In  view  of  the  treatment  of  the  Reformer  in  all  ages,  and 
of  the  ultimate  success  of  his  cause,  the  Scottish  poet, 
Mackay,  well  says:  — 

“  The  man  is  thought  a  knave  or  fool, 

Or  bigot,  plotting  crime, 

Who,  for  the  advancement  of  his  kind, 

Is  wiser  than  his  time. 

For  him  the  hemlock  shall  distil  ; 

For  him  the  axe  be  bared  ; 

For  him  the  gibbet  shall  be  built ; 

For  him  the  stake  prepared  ; 

Him  shall  the  scorn  and  wrath  of  men 
Pursue  with  deadly  aim  ; 

And  malice,  envy,  spite  and  lies, 

Shall  desecrate  his  name. 

But  truth  shall  conquer  at  the  last ; 

For  round  and  round  we  run, 

And  ever  the  right  comes  uppermost, 

And  ever  is  justice  done.” 

Genuine  Abolitionism  is  not  a  hobby,  got  up  for  personal 
or  associated  aggrandizement ;  it  is  not  a  political  ruse  ;  it 
is  not  a  spasm  of  sympathy,  which  lasts  but  for  a  moment, 
leaving  the  system  weak  and  worn ;  it  is  not  a  fever  of 
enthusiasm  ;  it  is  not  the  fruit  of  fanaticism  ;  it  is  not  a  spirit 
of  faction.  It  is  of  heaven,  not  of  men.  It  lives  in  the 
heart  as  a  vital  principle.  It  is  an  essential  part  of  Chris¬ 
tianity,  and  aside  from  it  there  can  be  no  humanity.  Its 
scope  is  not  confined  to  the  slave  population  of  the  United 
States,  but  embraces  mankind.  Opposition  cannot  weary  it 
out,  force  cannot  put  it  down,  fire  cannot  consume  it.  It  is 
the  spirit  of  Jesus,  who  was  sent  “  to  bind  up  the  broken¬ 
hearted,  to  proclaim  liberty  to  the  captives,  and  the  opening 
of  the  prison  to  them  that  are  bound  ;  to  proclaim  the  accept¬ 
able  year  of  the  Lord  and  the  day  of  vengeance  of  our 
God.” 


12 


SONNETS. 


SONNET  TO  LIBEKTY. 

They  tell  me,  Liberty  !  that,  in  thy  name, 

I  may  not  plead  for  all  the  human  race ; 

That  some  are  born  to  bondage  and  disgrace, 

Some  to  a  heritage  of  wo  and  shame, 

And  some  to  power  supreme,  and  glorious  fame. 

With  my  whole  soul,  I  spurn  the  doctrine  base, 
And,  as  an  equal  brotherhood,  embrace 
All  people,  and  for  all  fair  freedom  claim  ! 

Know  this,  0  man!  whate’er  thy  earthly  fate — 

GrOD  NEVER  MADE  A  TYRANT  NOR  A  SLAVE  : 

Wo,  then,  to  those  who  dare  to  desecrate 
His  glorious  image!- — for  to  all  He  gave 
Eternal  rights,  which  none  may  violate ; 

And  by  a  mighty  hand  th’  oppressed  He  yet  shall  saye. 

W.  L.  Garrison. 


SONNET. 

Who  talks  of  weariness  in  Freedom’s  cause, 

Knows  nothing  of  its  life-sustaining  power ; 

Who  in  the  conflict  for  the  right  would  pause, 
Beneath  a  tyrant’s  rod  was  made  to  cower; 

Who  something  loves  more  than  his  brother  man, — 
Holds  it  more  sacred,  at  a  higher  price, — 

Fails  to  discern  Redemption’s  glorious  plan, 

Or  in  what  sense  Christ  is  our  sacrifice ; 

Who  stands  aloof  from  those  who  are  agreed 
In  charity  to  aid  and  bless  mankind, 

Because  they  walk  not  by  his  narrow  creed, 

Himself  among  the  fallen  spirits  shall  find ; 

Who  would  show  loyalty  to  God  must  be 
At  all  times  true  in  man’s  extremity. 

W.  L.  Garrison. 


